Raymond Bartolacci became a pioneering success in the supermarket industry

Before Walmart, there was Laneco.

At least, so goes the story behind the man who founded the Lehigh Valley-based supermarket chain known predominantly for one-stop shopping before most of the country ever heard of the concept.

The founder of Laneco, longtime Easton area resident Raymond A. Bartolacci Sr., died this week at age 91, and residents on Thursday recalled the man as a business visionary who also cared for the community.

Laneco became a place where people could buy cold cuts and cold compresses along with hundreds of other food and non-food items. The Bartolacci vision also extended into carrying fresh products from meat to fish to baked goods, paving the way for Walmart and other stores where such variety is commonplace today.

Walmart founder Sam Walton, who was curious about the Laneco concept, visited Bartolacci during the mid-1980s, said his son, Raymond Bartolacci Jr.

"When he got into the nonfood end, it was gradual," Bartolacci said. "You sort of progressed from one to the next, housewares, menswear, automotive, and that's pretty much what happened."

Old Laneco stores in the Lehigh Valley are pictured. Raymond Bartolacci Sr., the founder of the Lehigh Valley supermarket chain, has died. Bartolacci, along with a brother, the late Guido "Guy" Bartolacci, opened Lanceo in Easton in the late 1940s.

(MORNING CALL FILE PHOTO)

By the time Laneco had a foothold on one-stop shopping, only one other supermarket chain in the Midwest, called Great Bear, was doing the same thing, Bartolacci said.

"He was the epitome of the American dream," Easton Mayor Sal Panto Jr. said, noting how Bartolacci, a butcher by trade who came from Italy with his parents when he was 5, entered the grocery business by opening a small corner store on the city's South Side in 1946.

"Ray never forgot where he came from and never forgot how to help people," Panto said. "He really was a decent human being who used his abilities to help others."

At its peak during the 1970s and 80s, Laneco and Food Lane stores dotted the map at roughly 25 locations in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The company also operated CR Pharmacies, which were usually inside the supermarkets. Before Laneco, the stores were called Food Lane.

Steve Curto, a retired business agent with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, recalled how Bartolacci would donate food to needy families.

"He was instrumental in a lot of things … in the community," Curto said. "He was not honored enough."

Others remembered Bartolacci's quiet philanthropy and other works, particularly in Northampton County, where the Laneco empire began and where he spent many years with his family.

L. Anderson Daub, president of the Northampton County Historical and Genealogical Society, said Bartolacci related his life story for the society's Sigal Museum.

"And we have it on tape, because it's such a significant part of Northampton County history," Daub said. "He was really the dynamic business leader in the Easton community."

When the strike ended in May 1985, union workers returned to their jobs with improved wages and benefits.

"[Bartolacci] was very fair, fair with the people. If we recommended something, he would see our side," Curto said.

Bartolacci along with his brothers, Guido "Guy," and Anthony, had actually sold Laneco two years before the strike to St. Louis-based Wetterau Inc. for $19 million. The brothers continued to operate the local chain until around 1990, when Bartolacci and other family members retired.

The chain became part of Supervalu in October 1992, and in 2001, Laneco closed, and about half of the Laneco stores were bought by the Giant supermarket chain.

Bartolacci died late Monday in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., where he spent much of his time in retirement.

Bartolacci Jr. said his father retired at about 68, but "he never sat still. He was involved in whatever we were doing. He was always very active."